PSY 231
Research Methods in Psychology
Non-true-experimental Designs
Announcements
 This week in labs—running group projects
 please be on time
 Fill out Rating Sheet #1 by Monday (can turn in Th/Fr)
 Journal Article Summary #2 due in lab next week
 research participation alternative
last section of the course
 Chapter 12—The Correlational Research Strategy
 Chapter 13—The Descriptive Research Strategy
 Chapter 10—The Nonexperimental and Quasi-Experimental
Strategies: Nonequivalent Group, Pre-Post, and Developmental
Designs
 Chapter 14—Single-Subject Research Designs
 Chapter 15—Statistical Evaluation of Data
today
 Chapter 12—The Correlational Research Strategy
 Chapter 13—The Descriptive Research Strategy
 Chapter 10—The Nonexperimental and Quasi-Experimental
Strategies: Nonequivalent Group, Pre-Post, and Developmental
Designs
 Chapter 14—Single-Subject Research Designs
 Chapter 15—Statistical Evaluation of Data
descriptive research
 talked about observation research designs (naturalistic,
participant, contrived) and case studies earlier
 focus on survey research design (most common method)
survey research method
 why use it?
 provides way to learn about people
 study relationships among variables/ways that attitudes and
behaviors change over time
 assumes people respond accurately and truthfully
 response sets
steps in survey research
 decide objective
 construct questions/responses
 finalize survey
 administer survey
constructing questions
 1. define research objectives
 attitudes or beliefs
 facts and demographics
 behaviors
constructing questions
 2. word questions carefully
 simplicity is key
constructing questions
 2. word questions carefully
 simplicity is key
 avoid
 double-barreled questions
double-barreled questions
BAD
 Should senior citizens be
given more money for
recreation centers and food
assistance programs?
GOOD
 Should senior citizens be
given more money for
recreation centers?
 Should senior citizens be
given more money for food
assistance programs?
constructing questions
 2. word questions carefully
 simplicity is key
 avoid
 double-barreled questions
 loaded questions
loaded questions
BAD
 Do you favor eliminating
the wasteful excess in the
public school budget?
GOOD
 Do you favor reducing the
public school budget?
constructing questions
 2. word questions carefully
 simplicity is key
 avoid
 double-barreled questions
 loaded questions
 negative wording
Negative wording
BAD
 The city should not
approve the proposed
women’s shelter.
GOOD
 The city should approve
the proposed women’s
shelter.
Constructing questions
 2. Word questions carefully
 simplicity is key
 avoid
 double-barreled questions
 loaded questions
 negative wording
 yea-saying and nay-saying
Yea-saying and nay-saying
 The members of my family
and I spend a lot of time
together.
 I feel isolated from others.
 I feel I am very close to my
group of friends.
 I spend most of my time
with my friends.
constructing responses
 3. closed-ended or open-ended?
 advantages and disadvantages to both
constructing responses
Closed-ended
 What is the best thing
about ISU? (choose one)
 1. Location
 2. Academics
 3. Dorm food
 4. People who sell things
between Milner and the
Bone
Open-ended
 What is the best thing
about ISU?
constructing responses
 4. if closed-ended
 decide number/label of response alternatives
 should use odd number (5 or 7 best)
 labels should be clear
 decide scale
 rating:
PSY 231 is an important course in the major.
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Agree
Disagree
constructing responses
 4. if closed-ended
 decide scale
 semantic differential:
PSY 231
Important _____: _____: _____: _____: _____: Unimportant
Boring _____: _____: _____: _____: _____: Interesting
 nonverbal scale for children:
Point to the face that shows how you feel about the toy.
finalizing the questionnaire
 5. formatting
 neatly typed and free of errors
 group questions by topic
 use scales consistently
 sequence
 interesting questions first
 sensitive questions in the middle
 demographic questions last
finalizing
 6. refining
 give to small group
 ask to ‘think aloud’
 help to improve questionnaire
administering
 questionnaires
 less costly than interviews
 allows anonymity
 requires participants can read/understand questions
 may find it boring
 response bias
administering
 questionnaires
 personal administration
 mail surveys
 Internet surveys
administering
 interviews
 often establish rapport
 more likely to respond to person
 able to clarify questions
 interviewer bias
administering
 interviews
 face-to-face
 telephone
 focus groups
correlational research
 determine relationship between variables
 correlation coefficient (r): statistic that describes relationship
between variables
 range: -1……0……+1
 negative relationship: as one variables increases, the other decreases
 positive relationships: as one variable increases, the other increases/as one
variable decreases, the other decreases
correlational research
 correlation coefficient (r): statistic that describes relationship
between variables
 strength
 small—r = .10 and -.10
 medium—r = .30 and -.30
 large—r = .50 and -.50
scatterplots
 strong positive relationship (.89)
4
3.5
3
GPA
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
Hours Studying
6
7
8
9
10
scatterplots
 weak positive relationship (.27)
4
3.5
3
GPA
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0
1
2
3
4
Hours Reading
5
6
7
scatterplots
 strong negative relationship (-.91)
4
3.5
3
GPA
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0
5
10
15
Hours Television
20
25
Scatterplots
 weak negative correlation (-.31)
4
3.5
3
GPA
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0
1
2
3
Number of Parties
4
5
scatterplots
 No relationship (.13)
4
3.5
3
GPA
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
6
7
8
9
10
11
Shoe Size
12
13
14
15
correlational research
 advantages
 good starting point for research
 observe natural relationships
 allows study of variables that are impossible/unethical to
manipulate
correlational research
 disadvantages
 no causality!!!
 directionality problem
 third variable problem
Cutting, Bock, & Herrmann (2013)
 administered a survey asking college students about their
consumption of alcohol and their G.P.A.
 surveyed included:
 On average, how many alcoholic drinks do you consume on a
weekly basis?
__________
 What is your college G.P.A.?
__________
Cutting, Bock, & Herrmann (2013)
 found a strong negative correlation (r = -.998) between
number of alcoholic drinks and college G.P.A.
4
3.5
G.P.A.
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Number of alcoholic drinks
14
16
18
20
22
Cutting, Bock, & Herrmann (2013)
 based on the results, they suggested that drinking alcohol
causes lower grades
 What do you think?
 It turns out that between May 2010 and May 2011 (time of
data collection), all of Chicago’s major sports teams (Cubs,
Bears, Bulls) had good seasons and went to their respected
playoffs
next time
 Chapter 12—The Correlational Research Strategy
 Chapter 13—The Descriptive Research Strategy
 Chapter 10—The Nonexperimental and Quasi-
Experimental Strategies: Nonequivalent Group, Pre-Post,
and Developmental Designs
 Chapter 14—Single-Subject Research Designs
 Chapter 15—Statistical Evaluation of Data